The Northerner + Thomas Heatherwick | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/the-northerner+artanddesign/thomas-heatherwick
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Tue, 31 Mar 2015 20:58:56 GMT2015-03-31T20:58:56Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
Thieves loot brass from city centre artworkhttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2011/oct/20/thomas-heatherwick-blue-carpet
Thomas Heatherwick's Blue Carpet in Newcastle is the latest victim of the scourge of 'scrap' metal thefts. Guardian Northerner arts correspondent <strong>Alan Sykes</strong> reports<p>Thieves who dismantled bronze sections from an artwork in central Newcastle have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage – far more than the value of the metal which they stole.<br /> <br />The damage was done to <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20110118095356/http:/www.cabe.org.uk/case-studies/blue-carpet">&quot;The Blue Carpet&quot;</a>, a &pound;1.4m lottery funded artwork unveiled in 2002 by artist and designer Thomas Heatherwick. &quot;The Blue Carpet&quot; is a series of 22,500 tiles speckled with crushed glass (some from re-cycled bottles of Bristol Cream sherry) looking like a carelessly thrown carpet creating a new public square – one corner laps up a wall of the city's <a href="http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/laing/">Laing Art Gallery</a>, while benches are torn out of strips of it, with the holes filled in with sheet glass covering rainbow lighting, and bollards burst through the surface.<br /> <br />The tiles are held together by bronze strips, and it is these that the thieves have removed. According to the Newcastle <a href="http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2011/10/12/laing-art-gallery-artwork-stolen-by-metal-thieves-61634-29581678">Journal</a>, the theft took place some time after 11pm, probably a lot later as the city centre is famously busy in the evening, whatever the weather. Northumbria Police and Newcastle City Council officials are studying footage from the many CCTV cameras in the area in an attempt to find the culprits.<br /> <br />Heatherwick, a graduate in 3-D Design from <a href="http://www.3dd.mmu.ac.uk">Manchester Metropolitan University</a>, was only 27 when he was selected as designer of the &quot;Blue Carpet&quot;. Some of his other creations have also had unhappy histories, in particular the spectacular &quot;B of the Bang&quot; 56 metre high giant starburst sculpture made out of 180 metals spikes and sited outside Manchester City's stadium, which was <a href="http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/11/view/7163/thomas-heatherwicks-b-of-the-bang-sculpture-sees-sad-end.html">dismantled in 2009</a>, after being declared unsafe. However he has also seen huge critical aclaim, in particular for his more recent <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8555400.stm">&quot;Seed Cathedral&quot;</a>, the UK Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo last year, and his <a href="http://www.e-architect.co.uk/awards/riba_awards_2008.htm">East Beach Sea Hut</a> in Littlehampton won an Royal Institiute of British Architects Award in 2008.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2011/oct/20/thomas-heatherwick-blue-carpet">Continue reading...</a>NewcastleSculptureArtArt and designManchesterThomas HeatherwickGreater ManchesterThu, 20 Oct 2011 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/uk/the-northerner/2011/oct/20/thomas-heatherwick-blue-carpetEamonn McCabe/Eamonn McCabeThomas Heatherwick in his studio in King's Cross where he dreamed up the Blue Carpet. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/Eamonn McCabeEamonn McCabe/Eamonn McCabeThomas Heatherwick, artist and designer in his studio in King's Cross. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe/Eamonn McCabeAlan Sykes2011-10-20T09:00:00Z